Some of the things I have learned about serving in the Kingdom of God

These thoughts are based on a talk given at the Brackenfell Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 19 April 2019 about things that I have learned while serving in the Church, and then about my new calling as stake patriarch. 

Preparing the talk gave me much about which to think. I have served the Lord for many years, with the first of my formal callings being about 1967 as youth class or quorum leader and secretary. I reckon I was not the greatest example of service in those days. We all need to start somewhere.

I reflected on the words of King Benjamin in Mosiah 2:9-26, particularly verses 17 to 19, and expressed the wish that we could have leaders in our communities and nations that were even a little bit as humble as this king.

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. 

18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? 

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

Then, I thought of Jesus Christ who said in Matt 20:26-27 that we need to be the servant of all, and in Matt 10:39 that we need to lose our lives for His sake in order to really find our lives. This does not necessarily mean dying for Him, but living for Him - giving up our own will and aspirations for His better will and aspirations - living for Him rather than living for ourselves.

I read the section Service from For the Strength of Youth.

As I contemplated the Lord's work and glory declared by Him in Moses 1:39, I contemplated the Ward Council that comprises a team of leaders with many years of experience and insight, and diverse talents, skills, interests, insights, strengths, weaknesses, and a whole bag of individual attributes. This is a wonderful training ground for learning to be like the Saviour as a council works in unity to aim for a shared goal. I shared an instance recalled by sister Lisa Harkness, First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, who recently visited our stake, shared in 2015 by president Russell M Nelson.

Sisters, do you realize the breadth and scope of your influence when you speak those things that come to your heart and mind as directed by the Spirit? A superb stake president told me of a stake council meeting in which they were wrestling with a difficult challenge. At one point, he realized that the stake Primary president had not spoken, so he asked if she had any impressions. “Well, actually I have,” she said and then proceeded to share a thought that changed the entire direction of the meeting. The stake president continued, “As she spoke, the Spirit testified to me that she had given voice to the revelation we had been seeking as a council.”

Another wonderful example was shared by M Russell Ballard in 1994, involving a response by a Primary president when a bishop in a ward council expressed concern about reverence in sacrament meetings, and humility and unity in that council.

What a wonderful thing if a ward council can focus on growing individual members rather than running programmes. I recalled a General Conference talk by Elder Loren C. Dunn in which he said to a neighbour who was pointing out errors that he and his brother were making on the farm, “Jim, you don’t understand. You see, I’m raising boys and not cows.”

I then mentioned the Family Council and our responsibilities where President Russell M Nelson said 'It is time for a home-centered Church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward, and stake buildings.' Another very simple, yet important aspect of serving in the Church is our opportunity to minister to our brothers and sisters.

I included portions of the section 19.1 'Determining Whom to Call' in Handbook 2

A person must be called of God to serve in the Church (see Articles of Faith 1:5). Leaders seek the guidance of the Spirit in determining whom to call. They consider the worthiness that may be required for the calling. They also consider the member’s personal or family circumstances. Each calling should benefit the people who are served, the member, and the member’s family. 

Although service in Church callings requires sacrifice, it should not compromise a member’s ability to fulfill family and employment responsibilities (see 17.2.1). Before calling a married person to an assignment that requires a significant time commitment, Church leaders consider the effect of the calling on the marriage and family.

Then, from section 19.2, a bit about the person who is extending the call

'conducts a personal interview to determine the member’s faithfulness and willingness to serve. If the member is willing, the leader extends the calling.'

I recall the story shared by my sister Judy of a call being extended to a young sister in the 1960s wherein an effective exploratory interview preceded the call which, when extended, felt like a sacred call from the Lord - a sacred experience. I have tried to conduct interviews in such a way that the members will have a sacred experience where they feel that it is the Lord extending the call, not just me - a call of inspiration and not a call of desperation.

I have been greatly blessed in my years serving in the home, community, work, Church, Scouts and other settings that have helped me to develop wonderful skills that have increased my abilities to serve in the other spheres. For example, I have developed skills doing administration in the Church that enabled me to give improved service in my employment and vice-versa.

My service has helped me to a small degree to learn empathy, compassion, selflessness, a Zion spirit. Hopefully I have become more fitted for Zion through my service than I would otherwise have been.

I love the words of the hymn Love one another (136 in our Childrens Songbook and 308 in the Hymn Book) Listen and watch

As I have loved you,
Love one another.
This new commandment:
Love one another.
By this shall men know
Ye are my disciples,
If ye have love
One to another.

I know that the Lord is merciful and gracious. His greatest desire is for each of us to soften our hearts and become like Him, learn of Him, come unto Christ to become perfected in Him. I cannot picture our Heavenly Father saying of any one of His children, even the most difficult of characters, 'I am glad to get rid of him!' I am fully confident that His greatest desire is for each of us to be worthy of His saying to us, as He said in the parable of the talents in Matt 25:14-30 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' He said in D&C 38:27, 'be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.'

I am sure that the greatest success that any team will ever have, such as a hockey team, is for each team member to work as one with the team having a single vision of success, rather than trying to get the ball and score goals without involving others in the team. Somehow, I cannot see a team of individuals competing with each other ever winning a world cup! Anyone who wishes to 'exalt my throne above the stars of God' as in Isaiah 14:12-17 is losing the game for the team - that was Lucifer's plan - let us not make it our plan.

Now I have a different focus since my recent call as stake patriarch. I am not part of any council - the only counseling that I have is an occasional one-on-one meeting with the stake president. But I have been really impressed by how my thoughts for the recent while have been on the seed of Abraham and the house of Israel - and that is an important part of the work of a stake patriarch as he declares the lineage of the recipient of a patriarchal blessing. My study has brought me to this subject for a while, and I have been particularly struck in so many chapters in scripture by their relevance to the seed of Abraham, Israel, and gathering them in these latter days.

I had occasion to find out about the learning process that my father had when he was called to serve as a stake patriarch in 1970. I have been able to read patriarchal blessings of many members of my family in preparing for my service. I think that my father's personal experience with patriarchal blessings was possibly limited to being present when he, my mother, one sister and I received our blessings while visiting the London Temple in 1969.

I remember elder Marion G. Romney telling my father when he ordained him to the office of patriarch in the Melchizedek priesthood, that he was the first patriarch on the African continent since the days of Abraham. That struck me then, and came to mind again when I chatted to Louis Groenewald who had been the first to receive a patriarchal blessing from my father, the first recipient of a patriarchal blessing on the African continent since Abraham, and who is now serving as a stake patriarch in the Pretoria area. I was asking for any advice that he might give that could help me in my new assignment. One thing that he said struck me - he said he realised that this is a calling of trust. The Lord and the quorum of the twelve trust that I can do it. Now I need to trust myself and be humble and in tune with the Spirit to receive the revelation that the member needs who comes seeking the blessing of their Heavenly Father, to learn of their life mission and possibilities as a child of the King of Kings.

In conclusion, the blessings that I have come to understand that we receive from serving in the Church, are that we come to know the doctrine, whether it be of man or of God, because we are doing the will of the Father and Christ as inspired by the Holy Spirit. This was a promise made by Christ. I love the Lord's declaration in John 15:8 'Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.' My hope and prayer are that I will receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to help me to be a useful chisel in the hands of the creator, and adding glory to the Father as I serve and bear fruit. I pray that I will be worthy enough to have pure and blessed water flow from this rusty old tap to bless others as the Lord would do if He were here, serving in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember what you know before just believing what others tell you ...

I was given a lot to think about when my brother Tim posted something on Facebook on 12 Nov 2018.

 

I see the image may not display because it contained text. It was the great pyramid with its geographical coordinates. I am trying again, this time with a cropped picture as well...

It gives:
Speed of light: 299 792 458 m/2
Coordinates of the Great Pyramid of Giza 29.9792458°N
COINCIDENCE?
His comment was 'Not in billions of years is this by chance........'

I posted the comment:

That depends... The pyramid spans about 29.97817°N to 29.98019°N, One of about 20200 points with 7 decimal place, each about 7 mm apart, along the approximately 150 m stretch from the northern to southern edges of the pyramid is indeed 29.9792458°N. That point is about 10758 out of about 20200, so reasonably close to the middle of the pyramid. It is TRULY REMARKABLE, but you have to have real faith in the precision of the surveyors of about 4578 years ago to think that they calculated the speed of light and plonked the pyramid on the ground at precisely that point to match that great number :-). This requires just about the same amount of faith as those have who believe that the millions of species in the world are the result of natural selection and the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life rather than the work of an intelligent God :-). But thanks for giving me something to think about :-)

I thought a lot about that.

The pyramid was built around 2580 to 2560 BC.

The speed of light was first considered about 1676 AD, and postulated by Albert Einstein in 1905 AD.

One has to ask why it was decided that a circle can be divided into 360 degrees, and that the Earth must span from 90°S to 90°N rather than any other number of degrees.

Then - the second is based on 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day - instead of some other numbers for seconds, minutes and hours.

The length of a metre is defined based on the length of a path traveled by light in a vacuum - instead of some other number like foot or yard or mile or something else.

These decisions and postulations put the pyramid close to 29.97817°N.

When I teach the process of georeferencing, or assigning geographical coordinates to record where museum or herbarium specimens were collected, I teach that one should not use more than 5 decimal places, nor less, because 5 decimal places puts one appropriately within 1 metre of the determined place, and using more decimal places adds false precision. So, I would have georeferenced a specimen of a bird or lizard with 'the Great Pyramid of Giza' as its location at about 31.13425°N, 29.97925°E, with a confidence of about 150 m representing the radius of a circle surrounding and including all four corners of the pyramid. If it had been a plant, then I would have given it within about 300 m or even 1000 m from the centre of the pyramid. Something like a bird or lizard can be 1000 m from the pyramid and can feasibly move onto the centre of the pyramid, whereas a plant is pretty much stuck in one place from the time of germination to its death, and is not likely to have been growing on the pyramid itself, and looking at aerial photography or satellite imagery shows the nearest visible vegetation at about 300 m from the pyramid.

My GPS is good to about 5 m - and I have benefited from that precision by locating a small plant ten days after recording its locality with my simple GPS, so I know. To get less than 1 cm precision in 2018 requires using a Differential GPS, costing many thousands of Rands or hundreds of Dollars.

What prompted the pyramid consulting engineers to place their pyramid precisely there? Perhaps an all-wise, loving, gracious and merciful God prompted them about 4600 years ago so that this picture would be posted on Facebook in November 2018 so that I would think about the question and saying to me 'It's OK, Les. I am here' :-).

Hopefully my comments will prompt you to search your thoughts and remember what you know.

So - think.... remember.... ponder.... dare I say pray?....

Some reflections on racism

Received from a friend: Nice Joke:
1) Racism will never end....as long as white bread still costs more than brown bread!!!
2) Racism will never end ....as long as we still wash white clothes first, then other colours later!!!!
3) Racism will never end.....if people still use black to symbolize bad luck and white for peace!!!!
4) Racism will never end....if people still wear white clothes to weddings and black clothes to funerals!!!!
5) Racism will never end.....as long as those who don't pay their bills are blacklisted and NOT white listed😂😂😂


My reply: Ai!

Aye!

In physics I learned that when all primary colours (red, green, blue) are combined in transmitted light they give prefect white light. When all primary colours are absorbed then no light is reflected, giving prefect black.

So, when all light and truth shine from the heart of a dark skinned person, what colour is that person? When no light or truth shine from the heart of a light skinned person, they just absorb it all and keep it to themselves, what colour is that person?

Where does racism reside in Zion? 🤔

When someone reflects light and truth, then they just see the good in others and hope, as the loving God and Father of us all hopes, that their enemy, the rotten scoundrel, the bad okes, will repent, come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him. I hope that includes me.

Somehow, I don't see Him thinking 'Yay! I'm rid of that one! He is going to hell.' He hopes that all, as in 2 Nephi 26:33, will come unto Him.

This complicated thought process arose as I read Alma 34:36 this morning and thought of this joke 😊

Have a wonderful 💓💛💙 day and let 💓💛💙 glow in your countenance 😉 as it usually does.

Sorry - the emojis have a black heart, but not a white one. Djy wiet, hulle moet sieker rassisties wies!(That translates to 'you know, they must surely be racist'.)😔

In response to this blog post, I was referred to a really interesting and thought-provoking talk by Marvin Perkins.

Would I be privileged to be welcomed into the most special marriage feast of all history?

I was thinking as I prayed tonight. I pondered the parable in Matthew 25

Why would Jesus Christ use a marriage feast as an object lesson? What is special about a marriage feast, and an invitation to one?

Would I receive an invitation?

How would I know that I had received an invitation? So many Jews, even the leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, rejected the very Messiah when He came in their midst – would I recognise an invitation to the most significant marriage feast in all of history?

Who would deliver such an invitation? Who would be on the list if invited guests? Would I be among those who would be invited?

If there were to be an invitation given, how would one come, other than through a living prophet? After all, Amos said ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ Amos 3:7 Does this apply here? Would the Lord arrive unannounced, or would he have a prophet deliver invitations to the feast?

If I were to be one of the fortunate ten virgins who would receive an invitation to this feast, would I have sufficient oil in my lamp when the cry comes ‘The bridegroom cometh’ and I tried to trim my lamp at the crucial moment when it is most needed?

I bear my testimony that the Lord does indeed have a living prophet. The invitation will not go randomly to all the world, just as an invitation to the wedding feast would not go to all in the town, but to special friends of the bridegroom, and not all of those special friends will have sufficient oil in their lamps to enable them to be prepared and welcomed in to the figurative ‘hall’ where the feast will be held. I hope and pray that I may at least receive an invitation, and hopefully have sufficient oil in my lamp. I know that the Lord lives now – still as He said to His disciples ‘Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.’ Luke 24:39

I know that He still lives, that he still has that body of flesh and bones that his disciples saw and felt. He will come again. All we need to do is to be ready to be welcomed into the marriage feast. I reckon that a Temple Recommend will be a basic requirement, and then living worthy of that, enduring in faith to the end. And then, being alert and attentive to the still small voice as it whispers in the right place at the right time to become aware of the cry that 'the bridegroom cometh'.

I hope that I will be welcomed in and hear those glorious words 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' Matt 25:21,23. I hope that all of my loved ones will be among those wise virgins who are welcomed in to the marriage feast.

We have a prophet through whom the Lord can deliver us

I shared this with my family this morning.

As I prayed this morning I realised that we do not need to buy 5 litre bottles of water, at least not those who have stored water.

What we shall do is to use stored water for washing and flushing, then wash the bottle, and replace the stored water with fresh water, then put the bottle under a bed as drinking water.

In HIRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) the first management or intervention option is avoidance, and second is replacement. This is what we can do without increasing our consumption of municipal water, by replacing it so that we can accumulate fresh stored water.

So, we have turned off the taps to the cisterns and use stored or rainwater to refill the cistern after flushing.

We disconnected the washing machine from the tap and use rainwater or stored water.

Then we can store fresh water with clear conscience.

Following this revelatory experience and being comforted by the Spirit, I turned to my daily scripture reading, and the first verse that I read was 2 Nephi 3:9.

And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.

Here is a note I made in my study journal.

After pondering our very serious drought in Cape Town in January 2018, and advising my family on how we have been blessed because of following the prophet's counsel to store food and water, this was the first verse that I read as I turned to my daily scripture study. We do indeed have a prophet through whom the Lord can deliver us.

Are we not blessed for having heeded the Lord's anointed all these years? Some of our stored water has been there for more than twenty years and may not be used confidently for drinking.

Another thought I had as I prayed is to use 5 litre fruit juice containers as water dispensers in the bathrooms and kitchen. But I can't think when last I saw one? If you see any, please collect them so that we can wash them to reuse as water dispensers.

Paul Kruger shared a video clip of a 2 litre cold drink bottle with a hole in it and pipe fitted, then a slight press of the bottle releases a bit of water, or loosening the cap releases a flow of water. That will work. Rather like the water feeders for budgies or hamsters as negative pressure prevents water from leaking out and positive pressure releases water.

Most people, left to themselves, are happy and content

I gained an interesting insight one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. I believe that is was when they were erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man in his work overall was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - that will always be the case. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure.    

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on Friday evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

A question for our youth, and others.

I am sometimes phoned and am told that someone has put me as a referral on his or her CV, hoping for employment because I was their mentor, colleague, or bishop. 

Sometimes I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them for employment, sometimes I have grave misgivings about doing so! 

Now, the preamble to the question: 

A prospective employer phones me. She asks about a young candidate, Jimmy or Jenny, who has applied for employment and wants to work for what they describe as their dream company.

The prospective employer has to decide between this young person and someone who is honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, who does good to all people, seeks after that which is virtuous, lovely, of God report and praiseworthy (does that sound familiar?) and is really dependable, innovative, proactive, polite, punctual, loyal. 

First question:

Would I have no hesitation in recommending you if you were this young candidate? 

Second question: 
If you were the prospective employer who phoned me, and I described yourself to yourself. Would you want me to lie about you?  Would you employ you? Would you regret employing you rather than the other candidate because I recommended you? 

You are now preparing for a bishop, teacher, friend or colleague to be your referral. Prospective employers do phone for referrals. Live the 13th Article of Faith and develop other good virtues in yourself. Be that! Then I, and other referees, would be delighted to recommend you!

I would love to have no hesitation in recommending you if I had the impression that you genuinely strive to live these virtues. I would guess that you are not as yet prefect in them, but I would believe that you would continue to strive to live them.